Believing Jesus by Lisa Harper

Author:Lisa Harper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2015-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Anyway, Paul’s star had risen high in Jewish social circles at the same time the early church was experiencing explosive growth. He was considered to be one of Gamaliel’s most promising protégés because of his excellent pedigree, his exceptional intelligence, and his exceedingly strong will. However, unlike his mentor, Paul didn’t favor a wait-and-see approach with regard to Jesus’ disciples and the message of grace they were preaching. As a militant defender of Judaism, he was fiercely opposed to their belief system, which was initially labeled “The Way” (Acts 9:2).1 Given the dangerous potential it had to divert fellow Jews away from Judaism (all of the first converts in Acts were Jews), Paul went to great lengths to quash it, including sending, in effect, a congratulatory group text to the mob that murdered Stephen:

They took him out of the city and began to throw stones at him to kill him. And those who told lies against Stephen left their coats with a young man named Saul. While they were throwing stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell on his knees and cried in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” After Stephen said this, he died.

Saul agreed that the killing of Stephen was good. (Acts 7:58–8:1 NCV)

And squiring another goon squad around in his Mercedes from one neighborhood to another on a “seek and destroy all Christians” mission: “Saul was also trying to destroy the church, going from house to house, dragging out men and women and putting them in jail” (Acts 8:3 NCV).

But while driving to Damascus on yet another anti-Christian operation, Saul/Paul ran into an impassable roadblock:

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. (Acts 9:1–9 NLT)

Suffice it to say, Paul’s collision with the Messiah he’d ridiculed and whom he’d persecuted others for believing in had blinding, heart-searing, life-changing consequences. For three days he holed up in a friend’s condo and replayed his conversation with the King of all kings over and over again in his head.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.